My paper aims to analyze a basic aspect of Radu Stanca’s dramatic work: namely, the relation between his plays and the general cultural and literary vision a the members of the Literary Circle of Sibiu. On one hand, considering their appetite for the so called “foundation of the Romanian classicism” and for the Europeanization of Romanian culture and literature, I shall explain Radu Stanca’s return to the strong European mythological models. These include Don Juan, Oedipus, Faust or the biblical myths, treated in a poetical manner, involving mythical vision and metaphorical language, all aiming to the resurrection of the tragedy as a major genre of European classicism. On the other hand, it is not literary mythology that attracts the writer, but its points of convergence with his artistic personality. Within this mythology, the artist innovates with simulated detachment, even allowing minor interpretativedistorsions that divert the original meaning of the said cultural and literary “models”.

Keywords: Literary Circle of Sibiu, Romanian classicism, European classicism, the resurrection of the tragedy, European mythological models.